R.C. Sproul's Blog, page 100

The Struggle to Find God's Will

Here’s an excerpt from The Struggle to Find God’s Will, Thomas Brewer's contribution to the January issue of Tabletalk:

“What does God want me to do?” Have you ever asked yourself that question? I know I have. I’ve wondered, Does God want me to live here? Does God want me to marry this person? Does God want me to take this job? What does God want me to do? These questions can be agonizing to answer, because they are so significant. We want as much certainty as possible in regard to answering significant questions. Why? Because when we lack certainty, we often feel scared. Not knowing what we should do next makes us feel as if we could make a mistake. It makes us anxious. In fact, though we may not admit it, sometimes we’re even afraid that we could miss God’s will.

The struggle to find God’s will is a struggle with certainty. We naturally seek as much certainty as possible in regard to decisions. Certainty helps us feel more in control, and when we feel in control, we feel safe.

WRONG MOTIVATIONS

Seeking more certainty in regard to decisions isn’t wrong. It’s good for us to consider the consequences of decisions, to seek out wise counsel, and to prayerfully consider what to do. Sometimes, however, uncertainty can cause our hearts to have the wrong motivations in seeking God’s will. That is, as Christians, we’re called to trust God for His control, but our desire to know God’s will can actually come from a deeper desire to have more control for ourselves. We want God to tell us exactly what to do so that no faith is required. That would put our hearts at ease, wouldn’t it? It’s thus strange how a presumably good desire (wanting to know God’s will) can sometimes be twisted into a bad one (wanting more control for ourselves). It reminds me of the Pharisees. They thought they were scrupulously doing God’s will by tithing their mint and cumin in exacting quantities (Luke 11:42). Jesus said they strained out a gnat to swallow a camel (Matt. 23:24). That is, they sought to control the absolute smallest details but missed faith in God. Jesus called them whitewashed tombs (v. 27). They looked nice on the outside, but inside they were dead. Their hearts didn’t trust God, though they were presumably seeking to do God’s will.

The story of the Pharisees is a cautionary tale for Christians. We need to be careful that ostensibly good desires aren’t proceeding from sinful motivations. This is a difficult thing to do, and it requires much heart searching. Were the Pharisees wrong to desire certainty about some things? No, they were not. We are certain, of course, about what God wants us to do in some regards. For example, we know that He has said, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts” (Col. 3:12). We know that He has said, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12), and, “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil. 4:4). These are examples of God’s will. He has said other, even more specific things. For example, He has called us, if we marry, to marry only another Christian—not a non-Christian (1 Cor. 7:39; 2 Cor. 6:14). He has also called us to work (Col. 3:23; 1 Tim. 5:8).

These passages and others tell us God’s will. But we’re actually looking for something more specific, right? We’re often not so worried about His moral will, that is, His commandments (theologians often call this God’s preceptive will). We’re wondering, specifically, what to do next among an array of morally good options. God’s moral will can give us more certainty in regard to some options, but it doesn’t narrow it down to a specific choice. When we talk about specific choices that God hasn’t revealed, we are talking about His secret will—that will that God has chosen not to reveal to us. God’s secret, or hidden, will is mysterious. It involves everything He has not told us regarding exact decisions (What would God choose if He were me?), about the future (Will I marry this person?), and pretty much everything else that God keeps to Himself (Why was I born now rather than a century ago?).

Continue reading The Struggle to Find God’s Will, or begin receiving Tabletalk magazine by signing up for a free 3-month trial.

For a limited time, the new TabletalkMagazine.com allows everyone to browse and read the growing library of back issues, including this month’s issue.

Ask Ligonier with Sinclair Ferguson

On January 8, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson joined us as a special guest on our Ask Ligonier team and answered your biblical and theological questions live online.

Dr. Ferguson is a Ligonier Ministries teaching fellow and Chancellor’s Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary. He previously served as senior minister of the First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, S.C., and he has written numerous books, including The Whole Christ, Devoted to God, and In the Year of Our Lord.

This special online event was streamed live on Ligonier’s blog, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also watch a recording of the event below.

We Need an Eternal, Self-Existent, Independent God

Bertrand Russell once quipped, “If there’s anything without a cause, it may just as well be the world as God.” In this brief clip, R.C. Sproul demonstrates what is wrong with this line of thinking.

Transcript

I “quarrel” with what Bertrand Russell says “If there’s anything without a cause, it may just as well be the world as God.” Is that true? Let me state it this way. If there has to be something that is uncaused, and we’re agreeing with Bertrand Russell – there must be something that is uncaused – it may as well just be Sproul as God. What’s wrong with that? Sproul has a beginning. Sproul is finite. Sproul is derived. Sproul is dependent. Sproul is contingent. Sproul undergoes mutations. Sproul lacks the power of necessary being, just as every physical thing lacks the power of necessary being, and so it is not true that it just as well be the world as God. What we need is an eternal, self-existent, independent being, who Himself or itself is not an effect. Nothing less, dear friends, can save the phenomena of the universe in which we live.

The Privileges That Are Ours

The letter to the Hebrews, as our studies throughout the year have shown, is full of Old Testament language and ritual. Running throughout it is an ongoing sense that as believers we are on the move, on a pilgrimage through the wilderness. This motif echoes in our ears as we turn the pages. We are seeking to reach the land of rest (4:1). Indeed we can already come near enough to see the throne of its King (4:16; 10:19). It is the throne of grace before which Christ our High Priest stands. So we run the race before us with perseverance, our eyes fixed on Him (12:1–2).

All this lies behind the remarkable words of Hebrews 12:18–28. We have come to Mount Zion — not to Mount Sinai, as Moses and the first pilgrim people did. As participants in the new exodus accomplished by Christ (see Luke 9:31, where “departure” literally means exodus), we have come to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. We have already received a kingdom that cannot be shaken (12:28). That is why we must see to it that we “do not refuse him who is speaking.”

This sustained use of Old Testament imagery is all-pervasive in Hebrews, although elements of it obviously appear throughout the New Testament. But the underlying structures of thought are the same in three ways. First, the promise of the old has been fulfilled in the new, in Christ. Second, another grammatical pattern is evident, one which we usually associate with the apostle Paul; namely, the indicatives of grace give rise to the imperatives of obedience. Third, this principle is also evident in the way in which Christians are urged to live in the light of the privileges they enjoy already and therefore to persevere to enter those they do not yet fully experience. Thus promise leads to fulfillment, grace leads to obedience, already is linked to not yet.

Now, as the author comes to the final warning passage in Hebrews 12:25–29, it helps if we see its apparent severity in the light of this third principle. “You have not come . . . But you have come” (Heb. 12:18, 22). What are our privileges? They are truly amazing. Rather than come — as did believers in the day of promise and shadow — to an assembly convened at a mountain engulfed with a sense of awful judgment, we have come to the abiding city of God. Indeed we have come to God Himself, not with Moses, but with Jesus. For we have received the new covenant in His shed blood.

This is the assembly in which we gather for worship to hear the voice of Christ in His Word, to lift our voices under His choral direction in praise, to share His trust in His Father, and to gather around Christ as His brothers and sisters (see Heb. 2:10–13). Consequently, this is also our family — composed of the redeemed from among all mankind and the elect among the angelic host. This is the kingdom in which we are enrolled as citizens (12:23). Moreover, it is a kingdom, unlike all the kingdoms and empires of this world, that cannot be shaken (12:27–28). What riches are ours in these three dimensions of the life of grace! And they are already ours in Christ! Here and now, our lives are punctuated by special visiting rights to heaven’s glory as we assemble with our fellow believers.

“See that you do not refuse Him” (Heb. 12:25ff.). Here is the final extended warning passage in Hebrews. They have often been regarded as “problem” passages because of the implication they seem to carry, namely, that believers might fall away from Christ and be lost. But to read these passages in such a way is to abstract them from their contexts in the letter and from the covenant dynamic of the Gospel. For when we read these passages in the context of the letter as a whole, we come to realize that they belong to an ongoing series of exhortations to be read in the light of the privileges of grace.

In fact, the author of Hebrews thought of his entire letter as a word of encouragement to persevere (13:22). As any father would do, so the author, as a spiritual father, and speaking on behalf of the “Father of spirits” (12:9), encourages his spiritual children with exhortations that are both positive and negative.

The key here is the new covenant structure of the Gospel. It is built on a better Mediator and better promises than the old. But it remains a covenant. Its dynamic is the same: God gives His promise of grace (fulfilled now in Christ); His promise is life through faith in Christ, and death for any who spurn the blood of the new covenant (see 10:26–31).

So, we have already “come to Mount Zion … the heavenly Jerusalem.” But we have not yet finally entered it. We hear its worship, we experience its power; its light enlightens our camping ground (Heb. 6:4–5). But there is a River still to be crossed. The doors of the City are never shut (Rev. 21:5), but we do not yet dwell inside the city gates. We must still wade through the River. Like Christian, (in virtually the last words of The Pilgrim’s Progress, part one), we know that there is “a way to Hell, even from the Gates of Heaven, as well as from the City of Destruction.” God’s covenant faithfulness calls for faith that perseveres to the end.

When we have seen the privileges that are already ours, we have every reason to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and persevere in penitential faith until that which is now ours in part becomes ours in whole and forever.

This post was originally published in Tabletalk magazine.

Thousands Stepped Forward, and We Are Grateful

Last month, we asked you to prayerfully consider supporting Ligonier Ministries, and thousands stepped forward with generosity. We are grateful to God for His provision through you.

The Lord is building His kingdom around the world, and thanks to gifts and prayers from friends like you, Ligonier is well-positioned to serve the global church in 2020 with strength. As we begin a new decade of ministry outreach, Chris Larson, our president and CEO, recorded this brief message to thank you for your gospel partnership.

Ask Ligonier with Sinclair Ferguson: Live Tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. ET

Tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. ET, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson will join us as a special guest on our Ask Ligonier team to answer your biblical and theological questions live online.

Dr. Ferguson is a Ligonier Ministries teaching fellow and Chancellor’s Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary. He previously served as senior minister of the First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, S.C., and he has written numerous books, including The Whole Christ, Devoted to God, and In the Year of Our Lord.

Simply tweet us your questions by using the hashtag #AskLigonier or leave them as comments or messages on our Facebook page. This special online event will be streamed live on Ligonier’s blog, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. We hope you’ll join us tomorrow.

Knowing God's Will

Here’s an excerpt from Knowing God’s Will, Burk Parsons' contribution to the January issue of Tabletalk:

When people try to find the will of God, they are usually concerned with making right decisions according to God’s overall plan for their lives. This is true whether we are making decisions for ourselves or helping our loved ones make critical life decisions. These decisions can include which college major to choose, whom to marry, when to have children and how many to have, how to educate our children, which church to join, where to live, and which medical treatment to pursue.

Continue reading Knowing God's Will, or begin receiving Tabletalk magazine by signing up for a free 3-month trial.

For a limited time, the new TabletalkMagazine.com allows everyone to browse and read the growing library of back issues, including this month’s issue.

What is the Difference Between Sin, Transgression, and Iniquity?

From falling short of the mark to crossing the line, the Bible describes sin in a multitude of ways. In this video from one of our live events, R.C. Sproul and Sinclair Ferguson call attention to the only One who is able to pay our immeasurable debt before God.

Just ask Ligonier to get clear and trustworthy answers to your biblical and theological questions. Visit Ask.Ligonier.org.

Read the Transcript

How Do We Know the Bible Is True?

That's an excellent question because so much is at stake in the Christian faith in terms of the truthfulness of Scripture. The Bible is our primary source of information about Jesus and about all of those things we embrace as elements of our faith. Of course, if the Bible isn't true, then professing Christians are in serious trouble. I believe the Bible is true. I believe it is the Word of God. As Jesus Himself declared of the Scripture, "Your word is truth." But why am I persuaded that the Bible is the truth?

We need to ask a broader question first. How do we know that anything is true? We're asking a technical question in epistemology. How do we test claims of truth? There is a certain kind of truth that we test through observation, experimentation, eyewitness, examination, and scientific evidence. As far as the history of Jesus is concerned, as far as we know any history, we want to check the stories of Scripture using those means by which historical evidence can be tested—through archaeology, for example. There are certain elements of the Scripture, such as historical claims, that are to be measured by the common standards of historiography. I invite people to do that—to check it out.

Second, we want to test the claims of truth through the test of rationality. Is it logically consistent, or does it speak with a "forked tongue"? We examine the content of Scripture to see if it is coherent. That's another test of truth. One of the most astonishing things, of course, is that the Bible has literally thousands of testable historical prophecies, cases in which events were clearly foretold, and both the foretelling and the fulfillment are a matter of historical record. The very dimension of the sheer fulfillment of prophecy of the Old Testament Scriptures should be enough to convince anyone that we are dealing with a supernatural piece of literature.

Of course, some theologians have said that with all of the evidence there is that Scripture is true, we can truly embrace it only with the Holy Spirit working in us to overcome our biases and prejudices against Scripture, against God. In theology, this is called the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit. I want to stress at this point that when the Holy Spirit helps me to see the truth of Scripture and to embrace the truth of Scripture, it's not because the Holy Spirit is giving me some special insight that he doesn't give to somebody else or is giving me special information that nobody else can have. All the Holy Spirit does is change my heart, change my disposition toward the evidence that is already there. I think that God Himself has planted within the Scriptures an internal consistency that bears witness that this is His Word.

This excerpt is adapted from Now, That’s a Good Question! by R.C. Sproul.

How Did Protestants Think About the Church After the Reformation?

Up until the Reformation there was only one institutional church in the West. What did Protestants believe after the Reformation, when various denominations began to arise? W. Robert Godfrey answers this question in this brief clip from his teaching series A Survey of Church History. Watch this entire message for free. 

Transcript

Up until the Reformation, by and large, certainly in the West, there had been one united institutional church. It didn't mean everybody agreed about everything, but at least, theoretically, the institution of the church was united. Now, the institution of the church is divided. There's still, of course, the Roman Catholic church, and there are the Lutheran churches, and there are the Reformed churches, including the Presbyterians in Scotland, but there are also growing other groups, particularly the Anabaptists in the sixteenth century, but over time other groups, as well. What does this mean for the way in which Christians think about the church? In the sixteenth century, when Christians thought about the church, and as the church began to divide, Christians basically thought in terms of the true church and the false church; and what that meant, of course, is, mine is the true church, and yours is the false church. And when the struggle seemed just to be between the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church, that two fold division seemed to make sense.

But did the Reformed really want to say the Lutherans were a false church? See, there is pressure now to begin to think, how do we process this, how do we account for this, are there different ways of understanding the unity of the church, the dividedness of the church? This will eventually lead to what today we think of as "denominational thinking." We take denominations so for granted, we hardly think about it. Particularly, for Protestants that's the way we’re sort of conditioned to think in America. I’m Dutch Reformed, you're a Presbyterian, you're a Baptist; I know my church is a little bit better than all of yours, but I don't want to say you’re part of a false church, so we begin to talk about pure and less pure churches. And we begin to say, "Well, the true church of Jesus Christ can exist in different institutional forms," and that's a revolution in thinking; it's hard for us to appreciate that, because we’re so accustomed to it, it's a revolution in thinking.